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Seat sharing done, will contest Bihar elections together, says Nitish

Soon after finalising the seatsharing agreement with the VJP, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said that there is no misunderstanding among NDA partners in the state and they will work together in the Bihar Assembly polls. The Janata Dal-United (JDU) has been allotted 122 seats and the BJP has got 121 seats for […]

Soon after finalising the seatsharing agreement with the VJP, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said that there is no misunderstanding among NDA partners in the state and they will work together in the Bihar Assembly polls. The Janata Dal-United (JDU) has been allotted 122 seats and the BJP has got 121 seats for the Bihar Assembly polls.

 Addressing a joint press conference with BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Kumar said that while the JD-U will give seven seats to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM from 122 seats allocated to it, the BJP will give some seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) from its share of 121 seats.

 “JD(U) has been allotted 122 seats. Under that quota, we are giving 7 seats to HAM (Hindustan Awami Morcha). BJP has 121 seats. Talks are underway, BJP will allot seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party under their quota,” Kumar said.

 “We have been working together for 15 years. Those who were in the government before us what did they do? What was the condition of employment, law, and order? Everyone knows everything. When we came in 2005, we fixed things in education, health and development. Bihar’s budget used to be Rs 24,000 crores and now we have taken it to Rs 2,11,000 crore… We will work together and will contest polls. There are no misunderstandings,” he added. 

Responding to a question on attacks by Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan against him, the JD-U chief said he has no interest in what someone is saying about him. “Ram Vilas Paswan is unwell. We want him to recover. Has Ram Vilas Paswan been elected to Rajya Sabha without the support of JDU? BJP and JDU gave him the ticket,” he said.

 Elections to the 243-seat Bihar assembly will be held in three phases — October 28, November 3, and 7 and the counting of votes will take place on November 10. The Chief Minister said that Bihar is ahead in coronavirus testing and Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is also low. Recovery is more than 93 per cent, he said. He said that Rs 1,000 were given to 21 lapeople of Bihar during the lockdown. “We spent Rs 5,300 per person in quarantine centres in 14 days. We will seek to serve people again on the basis of works we have done,” Kumar said.

 Sushil Kumar Modi said only those parties will remain in NDA who will accept Nitish Kumar as NDA leader in Bihar. “BJP has declared Nitish as CM candidate. Ram Vilas Paswan is unwell. Had he been in good health, this type of circumstances would not have emerged. There is no confusion. He will again become the Chief Minister of Bihar,” Sushil Kumar Modi said.

 In a veiled message to LJP, he said if NDA emerges victorious, Nitish Kumar will be the Chief Minister again irrespective of seats any party in the alliance won. Sushil Kumar Modi also said BJP may write to the Election Commission to prevent any other party except NDA partners from using Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph in their posters.

 “If needed, we will write to the election commission that only four parties- JD-U, BJP, HAM and VIP – can use photo of PM Modi and if any other party found using his photo then Election Commission would be free to take action,” he said. 

With agency inputs

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